Come With Me to Santa Fe!

I've moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and invite you to join me as I explore this beautiful new country. I use the word "country" intentionally, because even though it is in the U.S., it is one of 4 U.S. cities that I feel are so unique, they are almost like foreign countries. I include Santa Fe with New Orleans, San Francisico, and New York.
So many friends have asked me, "Why Santa Fe?" In short, it is a place that called to me. Over the years I have made road trips across the US many times and each time that I drove through New Mexico, I was drawn to its barren and sweeping landscape. It is from another time. There is a reason it is called the Land of Enchantment. In addition, I have flown into Albuquerque (yes, I had to look up the spelling), to drive north to ski Taos. Each time I was captured by the country and its history. The Taos pueblos are still occupied as they have been for 1,000 years. This is a place where we anglos are the new intruders to a country where the original American Indian and Mexican settlers have lived since before Columbus discovered America.
I am not alone in feeling such a strong pull to this area. In the 1920s, D.H. Lawrence wrote, "The moment I saw the brilliant proud morning shine over the hills of Santa Fe, something stood still in my soul."
The Indians called this area the Dancing Ground of the Sun. It is an expanse that begs your reverence and allows you to "meet the sky for the first time."
Please join me as we explore this unique land.
ramblinme

Buenos Aires; A few Corrections

I asked Natalin, my Evita tour guide in Buenos Aires, to check the accuracy of the information about Argentina in my blog. Here are a few corrections she made;
1. The soccer stadium I showed belongs to Boca Juniors and the neighborhood of elegant faded mansions surrounding it is called La Boca.
2. Lorenzo (the 80 Year old pictured) was a friend of Evita's but they did not work together.
3. The Evita Items displayed were not from Lorenzo's private collection, but were collected by all the people who worked in the building with Evita "as an honor to her and all the workers."
Also important is that Natalin asked that we don't let the actions of one hotel desk clerk spoil the impression of her country. I would agree!
Thanks to Natalin for the great tour and also the follow-up to make sure that my blog is accurate.
If you plan to go to Buenos Aires, Natalin and her tour company Travelline are highly recommended!
Here is her contact information:
http://www.travelline.com.ar/

Happy Trails....

So Good to Be Home!!!!

Several surprises greeted me at home. First, the Kitties were beside themselves with joy that I had returned. One of them almost woke up from her nap! Secondly I discovered that just outside of my condo balcony, the the first ever beach marathon (26.2 miles) was being held to raise money for breast cancer. Thousands of people from all over the world were participating and made it a huge success.
I spent a lot of the day trying to find out who had won the Super Bowl and that evening a full moon greeted me. All in all, a nice welcome home.
The South American trip is over but I plan to continue the blog, adding bits from time to time about travelling in general. Also, I still hope to visit Abu Simbel Egypt in October for the special sunrise ceremony and hopefully put together another trip around the world for the end of this year.
In closing, a quick note about this blog. Because everything I write is in reverse order and previous contents are listed by date, not title, I want to give a quick summary of what's in the blog, especially if someone is just tuning in.
Below is a travel summary and photos of my first visits to Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina. Photo Albums of the South American trip can be found at;
http://picasaweb.google.com/ramblinme
After the South American trip entries are descriptions and photos of a trip I took around the world to Peru, Egypt, Russia, India, Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania, Bhutan, Tibet, China, and Hong Kong. Everywhere I travel I try to go to countries I haven't visited before, so much of the blog is a first timer's perspective.
I hope that you enjoy the blog and that you will continue to travel along with me.
Happy Trails

P.S.Curitiba, Brazil

Recently I received these gorgeous photos from Daniel Herthal. I met Daniel and his son on the train tour from Curitiba, Brazil to Morretes and he was kind enough to share his photos. Even though Daniel and son were tourists that day, he actually is the director of his own tour company. Here is contact information for him;
www.andritur.com.br or

andritur@andritur.com.br

Journey's End - Farewell South America

The beautiful city of Buenos Aires was the final stop on my trip to South America. The trip seemed to go by in a blur. Travelling back to Jacksonville Beach, Florida took almost 40 hours, partially due to my bad planning and partially because using frequent flyer miles puts you at the mercy of available seats and flights. Visiting Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, and Argentina for the first time was an extraordinary experience for me. Thank you for all the comments and encouragement you sent during the trip and for travelling along with me through this blog. Happy Trails....

Faded Glory-Buenos Aires Soccer Stadium Neighborhood

The beautiful old buildings surrounding the soccer stadium hint at the exquisite buildings and wealthy neighborhood that once existed there. There are some attempts to bring them back, but many look deserted and covered with graffiti.

Buenos Aires City Tour

A quick bus tour of the city gave a sample of the beauty and diversity of the city architecture. Top right is their famous soccer stadium and bottom left is the opera house, currently undergoing an extensive rennovation. Bottom right is a massive metal sculpture of a flower that actually opens and closes in response to the sun. With a multi-million dollar price tag, it is the most expensive sculpture in Argentina.

Evita Farewell

The Evita tour ended appropriately with my tour group (top left) and I sharing a bottle of Argentinian wine at Evita's favorite cafe, Confiteria Ideal (top right). The resident pianist played tango after tango as we toasted the memory of Evita Peron and bid a final farewell to one of the best tours and tourguides ever - Natalin.
Don't miss either if you travel to Buenos Aires!

Lorenzo Olarte-Living History in Buenos Aires

A remarkable part of the Evita tour is the opportunity to sit and talk to Mr Lorenzo Olarte who was a coworker of Evita Peron. Young looking for someone in his 80s, he maintains his personal collection of Evita memorabelia including photos of her body lying in state (in the building where they both worked), an autographed photo of Juan and Evita, and a poster of Evita. This is a small part of his collection and merely sets the stage for his first hand accounts of the Argentinian history he shared with Evita.
My sincere thanks to Mr. Olarte and to Natalin for these pictures.

Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Ricoleta Cemetery, the most expensive property in Argentina, is a city of tombs, statuaries, and small chapels marking the burial places of the most wealthy and famous in Argentina's history. An exisiting family tomb is the only way to currently be buried there.
The map of Recoleta is an enormous spider web of lanes with tiny alley off-shoots.
In one of these out-of-the-way alleys, a constant crowd lets you know that you are there - the Duarte family tomb where Evita is finally at rest.

Evita Vive!

It has been over 50 years since Evita Peron's death, but her legacy continues to grow.
She was only 33 when she died of uterine cancer. During her last days, her husband Juan helped her to the balcony to speak to her descamisados, the poor and disenfranchised who became her nation of supporters and fierce political power. She died on July 26, 1952 and Juan had her body embalmed and perfectly preserved. Her body lay in state in various parts of the city, as hundreds of thousands paid their last respects.
In death, there was no peace for her. Evita's corpse was stolen by the military after they deposed Juan Peron, out of fear of her symbolic power with the people. The body was carried to Germany and then to Italy where it was interred for 16 years under another name.
(One account has the body in Paris at one point when a fight broke out and a gunshot took off her little finger).
Juan Peron negotiated and was finally able to bring her body to him in Spain where he lived at the time. Her odyssey ended when Juan died in 1974.
"Her coffin was brought from Spain and lay in state next to that of the one she had said she would die for."
Evita is now buried in the Duarte family tomb in the famous Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, the burial place for the most rich and famous of Argentina. Even here there remains a trace of her contoversial life. The guidebook and maps for Recoleta Cemetary include Evita's name, but the officials who manage the cemetery deny that she is there. Evidently, for them, she was not of the social standing and status required to be buried there.
The people, however, have raised her to near saint status. Graffiti throughout Argentina proclaims "Evita Vive!," (Evita Lives!). The Duarte famile crypt (pictured) is always crowded with visitors who leave flowers and written tributes.
One of the most popular songs from Evita, the rock opera, is "Don't Cry for Me Argentina." The words from the song are actually a variation of her last words to her people;
"Don't cry for me Argentina, I remain quite near to you."
Evita Vive!

A Mournful Tango in a Dark Room

Walk through the entryway of the Evita Museum and you are immediately directed to a small dark room, (15 x 20 Ft ?). The light is so dim that you step cautiously, especially since the floor seems to be at a gentle slant. As your eyes get used to the light, the entire wall in front of you becomes a very old black and white newsreel of crowds of hundreds of people in the middle of downtown Buenos Aires. The saddest music becomes the background music for the film and it takes some time to realize that it is a tango, How can a tango possibly be so mournful? It is then that you realize that this is film footage of Evita Peron's funeral procession through the city. The sadness of the crowds is tangible and in this very special place, you become a part of that sadness for this very special woman.

Museo Evita Entryway

The Evita Peron Museum is housed in a former home for unwed mothers run by the Eva Peron foundation. The museum contains archived films with excerpts from her small movie roles and her later speeches, rooms devoted to all of the public projects supporting the country's poor, portraits of her life with Juan Peron, her writings, and her clothes worn on state ocassions (Evita was the Jackie Kennedy fashion plate of her time).
The following is from "Argentina Insight Guides, p.65".....
"Perhaps Evita's finest hour came with her long tour of Europe, during which she met Franco, the dictator of Spain, Pope Pius XII, and the Italian and French foreign ministers. She dazzled postwar Europe with her jewels and elegant gowns. Her rags to riches story was told and retold in the press, and she was even on the cover of Time magazine."

Evita Tour - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Okey, I've already admitted to being an Evita groupie. The contradictions (saint or sinner?), the cinderella elements, her political savvy and power in her place and time, her very early death, and the subsequent mysteries around her travelling body and final return to Buenos Aires, is the stuff of legends.
So of course I signed up for the Evita tour. The first good sign was that it consisted of three of us plus a driver and Natalin, our guide. (I'm that annoying person in your tour group who asks a million questions, so it is more merciful for others if I'm in a small group.)
The rest of my group was a charming newlywed couple from Canada who raised bees for a living. Every winter they lock the hives and bees in a barn and take several months to travel the world. I kept trying to get them to adopt me so that I could travel along.
The tour was beyond expectations and included the Evita Museum, the famous Recoleta Cemetery where she is now buried, the cafe that she frequented, the offices where she worked, and a chance to meet one of her coworkers (now in his 80s), who has collected memorabelia from his time working with Evita. Let's go!

Evita Tour Extraordinaire!

Top left is the only statue in Buenos Aires parks dedicated to Evita Peron. Bottom left is the fantastic tour guide Natalin entering the gates of the Evita Museum. Bottom right is the wall in the museum entryway with portraits of Juan and Evita Peron. Top right is the gateway to the famous Recoleta Cemetary, where Evita's body has finally been returned.

Buenos Aires - Best and Worst of South American Trip

Before I left the US, several friends told me about their great experiences in Buenos Aires. Combine that with the reputation of the city, and I expected a great time for this, my last stop on the South American trip. Perhaps the high expectations made my first bad experience seem worse.
It was a long trip from Puerto Montt to Santiago and then on to Buenos Aires, so I was thrilled when the cab finally pulled up in front of my hotel in Buenos Aires - the Kimpinski Park Hotel. It was a small very elegant hotel and I couldn't wait to get settled.
While registering, I mentioned that I would love to add an extra day to my stay in the hotel and was surprised to hear that the desk clerk couldn't help me. My reservation for the hotel was with Expedia.com and I would have to contact them by email to change my reservation. The desk clerk could be of no help. He went on to imply that I would not be able to afford to stay there if I hadn't gone through Expedia.com.
In the past I've heard the derrogatory terms "white trash," "trailor trash," and "euro-trash," but after listening to this desk clerk, I truly felt like "Expedia.com" trash. It was very clear that he considered the Expedia.com folks a cut below the others staying at "his" hotel. Also, during the almost hour it took me to register, he would stop helping me anytime someone else stepped up to the counter asking for help.
I later found out that Expedia.com buys huge blocks of rooms so that they can offer great prices. The usual stay at this hotel starts at $250 a night and my rate was $120. I was very happy to pay the Expedia.com rate, but the desk clerk had no right to be condescending.
Part 2 of this rant involves trying to sign up for a tour to Uraguay. The country lies across the bay from Buenos Aires and the town of Colonia in Uraguay had been highly recommended. Again I approached my "friend" the desk clerk and was told that he couldn't call and make a reservation for me. I would have to travel to the tourist company offices on the other side of the city to arrange a reservation. It couldn't be done by phone. When asked why, he said, "They are the only tour company that arranges this trip and they are so spoiled that they don't care if they get any business. If I (the desk clerk) tried to phone them, you (me) would have to stand beside me with your credit card and even then you could not get a reservation."
After trying twice to get help making a reservation to see Colonia, I gave up. Later, I researched this on the internet and there are several sites that give you step by step instructions for making your own reservations and navigating the boat trip and the border requirements. I highly recommend doing this. I've always believed in voting with my dollar. If the tour company is too spoiled to provide basic customer service, they won't get my business. Sadly it was too late for me to arrange a trip to Uraguay before leaving and I missed out on the experience of a new country.
Also, I have to say that even though the Kimpinski Park Hotel was a lovely elegant place, I would never stay there again. I can't reinforce that kind of customer service.
Okey - end of rant. This was the worst of my South American experience, but the upcoming Evita tour turned out to be one of the best. Stay tuned.....

Checking out the Buenos Aires Tourists

Buenos Aires, Argentina

You can't hear the name "Argentina" without evoking thoughts of the best steaks in the world, sexy hyper-masculine gouchos, excellent wines, sizzling tangos, political intrigue, a history of rampant inflation, and the larger than life paradox of Evita Peron.
In Buenos Aires, there is no middle ground when it comes to Evita; she is loved or hated, depending on the person asked. I must admit that I am an Evita groupie and have been one since I saw a billboard in New York advertising a new Broadway Play called "Evita." I was floored. What an insane idea to turn Evita Peron's life into a musical. History and Patty LuPone (the star of the Broadway musical) proved me wrong many times over. I saw the musical many times and began plowing through Evita biographies. This is a long way of saying my Buenos Aires trip was very focused on getting closer to the legend, especially in this town where it was shaped.
A personal opinion - the Broadway musical was far superior to the movie "Evita" with Madonna in the starring role (although the movie does have the truly gorgeous Antonio Banderas). Madonna's voice could not compete with Patty LuPone. If there is any way to hear a recording of the original Broadway cast - DO IT as a gift to yourself.
Interestingly, everywhere I went in Buenos Aires, the locals hated the Evita movie. The only explanation I could get was that they dislike the portrayal of her personal suffering during her terminal illness. I'm guessing it has to do with a cultural need to protect her privacy during her personal ordeal.

THE Shopping Center, Puerto Montt, Chile

Stopover in Puerto Montt, Chile

One day was scheduled to visit the resort town of Puerto Montt before my flight back to Santiago. It is a resort city that hosts cruise ships from around the world and it was recommended by one of Chiloe's residents; "Why did you come here when you could have gone to Puerto Montt?"
To get there from Isle de Chiloe, take the ferry to the mainland and follow Rt 5 (what else?) until the turn-off that goes east to the city. The city wraps around the bay and is beautiful, but didn't capture my heart like Isle de Chiloe. I drove the beach side highway back and forth several times and finally stopped at the sight of my first South American shopping center. Generally I hate shopping centers, but this one sat oceanside and had spectacular views on every floor, floors of food courts, and Disneyland types of entertainment on every floor. I loved it!
A good night's sleep and then off to find the airport, which should have been a 45 minute drive. I found one "airport" sign exiting off Rt 5, but no signs after that. Over 3 hours of driving on every kind of road, stopping anyone I could find in this very remote area, and asking "aeropuerto?" with airplane hand gestures, finally led me to the airport. Even at the entrance to the airport there were no signs, another indicator that tourism is still in its first steps there.
For more pictures of this area, the following link contains photo albums of;
"Island Adventures in Isle de Chiloe, Chile" or
"Puerto Montt and Flight Back to Santiago"
All my South American travel albums can be found at
http://picasaweb.google.com/ramblinme
Enjoy - and Happy Trails!

Puerto Montt, Chile- Port for Cruise Ships

Isle de Chiloe- + and -

Leaving the island(s) gave me a chance to look back and think about what I would have done differently. Pluses - I definitely would return to the island and stay at the Ancud Hotel. The Penguin tour was great as was all the time that I spent exploring the town of Ancud. As for the drive to the south of the island, I would have spent much less time in the towns on the East of the Island ( Castro, Conchi). Instead I would visit Cucao on the Pacific side. You can ride horseback to explore the beaches and National Park there and several tour books call it the most beautiful beach in Chile. Also, I would have taken a private plane or boat to explore the hundreds of island surrounding the main island. The tides create an unusual phenomena in the outlying islands. Around Cucao (Pacific side) the tide rises to 8 feet. Near Quenchi, on the other side, the tide rises to 23 feet due to the shallowness of the interior sea. At times you can actually walk from island to island. The receding tides leave fish and shellfish trapped in the pools providing food and livelihood for the islanders. I merely touched the surface of what you can see and do in these islands.

Hotel Ancud - Great Memories

Last Day at Hotel Ancud -Farewell Isle de Chiloe

After living at the Hotel Ancud for a week, it was like leaving home on that last day. I had settled in to waking to the crisp mornings with the smell of the wood-burning fireplace, the cafe con leche and yards of breakfast goodies, the warm and gracious staff, and the suns glow over the beautiful bay. Even the wooden floors and log walls seem to take on the sunlit glow.
My last morning there brought a pleasant surprise - for the first time in my trip to South America, I heard Americans speaking. I love travelling on my own, but after three weeks, it was a treat to finally speak to someone without my dictionary and hand gestures. The California couple kindly invited me to join their breakfast table and I couldn't stop talking. They were charming and extremely tolerant of the strange rabid woman sharing breakfast with them. For me, a nice ending to my time in Isle de Chiloe. Onward to the resort town of Puerto Montt.

Finding Treasure - The Hotel Patagonia Insular in Quellon, Chiloe, Chile

The Drive down the Island - Isle de Chiloe, Chile

The theme of the drive south could easily have been "find the church." The island is covered with hundreds of completely wooden churches, built when the missionaries made the rounds of the islands in a boat, two priests at a time, travelling to all the churches on a rotating basis. Some are almost cathedral size and each one has it's own unique personality. Even when taking some of the dirt paths off road, there seems to be a church around every corner.
It was a fun one day trip, with lunch at the southern tip of the island in Quelion. Driving into the city I saw an interesting bright yellow building perched at the highest point in the city. It turned out to be a new hotel called Hotel Pantagonia Insular with great food, terrific wine list, a charming manager (whose English is better than mine), beautiful decor, and a spectacular view of the bay. It's so new that you probably won't find it in guidebooks yet, but here is their email address reserva@hotelpantagoniainsular.cl if you find yourself in the neighborhood.

Wooden Churches of Isle de Chiloe

My Dream Home Near the Islets of Punihuil, Chile

The Business of Penguin Watching - Islets of Punihuil, Chile

Islets of Puinhuil Tour and "Pen-GWEE-no"

A 45 minute trip due west of Ancuda takes you to the Pacific Ocean and the 3 islets of Puinhuil, the Penguin capital of the area. The islands are so close to shore that you can almost swim to them. An entire community of local guides lives on the beach to boat tourists around the islands which are covered in penguins. It is the only place in the world where Magellan and Humboldt penguins live together.
The penguins take it all in stride, as if the boatload of people is being brought to them, for their amusement. They stop and check out each boat to evaluate the latest tour group. Whales, seals, black necked swans, and otters are also part of the tour, depending on the time you are there.
As enchanting as the tour is, the scenery in that area is the most beautiful of any in the world. Looking across the green hills to the ocean below was a visceral experience for me. I kept thinking "I must live here!" With the exchange rate of 1 US dollar equal to 500 Chilean Pesos, I might be able to afford it. Since no one speaks English my 20 words of Spanish would have to expand to a full vocabulary out of necessity.
The cold reality though, is just that - the cold. My visit was in the middle of their summer and it was chilly. The mountain range that runs down the center of the main island protects all the towns on the east side of the island, but this area is on an unprotected bluff overlooking the Pacific. I can only imagine how brutal the winters are there.
That's my practical voice, but my heart tells me that I can't forget that area. Perhaps a winter visit will tell me that it's not as cold as I predict. I can always dream...

Penguin Watch,Islets of Punhuil, Chile

Shopping in Ancud, Isle de Chiloe in Chile

Shopping was an adventure. The brown leather looking tubes (upper right) are actually sea weed that is cooked and eaten. All of the cheese shops were together and they all looked like the one in lower left pic. It's all the same type of cheese! At this shopping area I met the only local person who spoke English. She was a Jahova's Witness who ran a tea shop and wanted to talk about the world to come. I escaped to eat as much seafood as I could at one sitting. The seafood was to die for and incredibly cheap.

Stoll through Ancud, Isle de Chiloe in Chile

The Romance of the Islands in Chile

There is such a strong pull to me from islands and deciding which island to visit in Chile was difficult. After all, you have Easter Island with its mysterious statues (how DID they get there?), you have the island where Robinson Crusoe was stranded, and among others you can visit the islands that are your stopping off point to Anarctica.
I chose the Islands of Chiloe halfway down the coast between Santiago and Anarctica, with its hundreds of smaller islands clustered around the central one, its isolation from the mainland, and its timelessness. There are no bridges, trains, or commercial airlines to get there. There is one ferry port just south of Peurto Montt that takes you to the main island.
At the Puerto Montt airport I rented a tiny Chevy and headed south on Route 5. Throughout the flight there I practiced with my home made flash cards of traffic signs -insurance to stay out of trouble. Just remember "pellegro" means danger.Most road signs were pictures and easy to interpret and the trip was a pleasure, especially with the luxury of stopping where ever I wanted to take pictures.Once off the ferry, you do step back in time. Route 5 is the one main highway that runs from the northern part of the island to the southern part, about 105 miles away. Roads branching off of 5 have a 50-50 chance of being dirt and gravel. Because of the lack of any other roads (or sidewalks) it is common to drive up on large families walking arm in arm in your lane, (creating lots of pellegro if you aren't attentive.
It is hard to book hotels on the island in advance because they are generally small family businesses with no internet connections, but I was lucky to find and book the Hotel Ancud, a 20 minutes from the ferry. It is a huge log structure on a peninsula with a 270 degree view of the water. The last picture in the blog was taken there, but without a special lens there is no way to capture the full view of the water with the snow capped mountains in the distance. Like many remote islands, Isle de Chiloe has protected its own special language and dialects, superstitions intwined with the Christianity brought by missionaries, and its own culture. It is a world unto itself. This also means that no one speaks English, there are very few service stations on the entire island, few people take credit cards, and I REALLY stood out as being "not from around here." It was a hoot.

View from the Ancud Hotel on the Island of Chiloe in Chile